Atomic Goalie
by neilhd
Summary: A mystery goalie wearing a Luongo jersey shows up at Betty's hockey practice right when her team needs one. Who is this stranger, what is his interest in Betty, and how will this affect Betty's best friend?


It was a beautiful day in the snow-covered borough of Moose Jaw Heights. The front curb and the parking lot of the local arena rapidly filled up with cars, minivans, and SUVs as teenaged children exited with their hockey equipment, saying goodbye to their parents as they proceeded to the building.

In the midst of it all, a red, family-sized car rolled up into a parking spot just a few paces away from the entrance. Out of the rear left door stepped Betty, wearing a thick, grey coat and carrying a duffel bag with the locally famous "Jackamoose" emblem.

"Bye, Mom! Bye, Dad!" said Betty as she threw the bag over her shoulder with little effort.

"Bye, Betty!" said her father as he put the car into reverse.

"Take care, Betty! Score a few strikes!" replied her mother cheerily just before the car moved out of the parking lot and back onto the increasingly busy road.

Betty simply rolled her eyes at the as soon as she turned around and headed to the lobby to sign in for practice. However, she was unaware of the mysterious figure in a blue parka standing across the lot with an even bigger Vancouver Canucks duffel bag in hand. As soon as the receptionist allowed Betty into the locker room, the figure slowly advanced...

Meanwhile, Betty was just in the middle of lacing up her skates on the rink's home team bench. Many of her usual activities, such as basketball and swimming, were closed for the winter season, so she found herself bored to the point where she was often asking Admiral DeGill for missions simply to kill her extra time. Thankfully, she had come across an advertisement for a youth hockey league in the Moose Jaw Gazette. The league was for people aged 13 to 16, and there would be an ending tournament with a trophy for the final team standing. Not only did Betty sign up, but she also convinced Paloma, Noah and Dylan to register as well. After being named captain of her team, Betty was especially determined to win that tournament so Penelope and _her_ team would have nothing to rub in her face.

"Here, Betty!" called Paloma as she passed a puck over to her red-haired friend.

"Thanks!" replied Betty before winding up and letting loose a wrist shot that flew into the top right corner of the goal.

"Wow! Awesome wrister, Betty!" exclaimed an impressed Dylan.

"Really? Thanks, Dylan!" answered Betty. "Did any of you guys see Ray today?"

Everyone on the team shook their heads with looks of disappointment.

"That kid is such a pest!" complained Dalton Osbourne.

"Just typical!" added his incensed twin brother Chip.

"He never shows up on time for anything!" exclaimed a stressed Noah.

Ray was one of Betty's notorious classmates at school, although his habits did not involve bullying or pranking others the way Duncan Payne did; he just showed up late consistently, showed insensitivity to his teachers and fellow classmates, and did not hand in his homework on time, if at all. He was the goalie for Betty's team, and he was a fairly good one, except that he couldn't always make big-time stops where his team needed him to.

Coach Sorenson, Betty's gym teacher and the coach of the team, would have replaced him, but nobody else was able to match his skill in net. As a result, he was stuck with him and his nonchalant attitude...or so he thought. He finally joined the team at center ice to calm the murmuring and confusion, carrying a note in his hand.

"If I could have your attention, please," said Coach Sorenson, prompting the young players to fall silent.

"Thank you. Now, I just spoke with Ray's parents. It appears that he was keeping his bad habits at school a secret from them, so they have requested to have him pulled out of the team so he may do additional homework over the winter break to help his grades."

The news was met with mixed emotions; some were pleased that they did not have to hang around Ray any longer, but others worried that since nobody would be able to play goaltender, they would have to forfeit the tournament. The commotion began once more, distracting the players from what was happening at one end of the rink. That is, until they heard the smack of metal against wood, making them once more fall silent and turn their heads. 

What they saw shocked and confused them.

"Did someone say they needed a goalie?" boomed a partially muffled voice from the blue ice in front of the goal.

In that spot stood a figure, dressed in a Vancouver Canucks jersey and wearing a set of blue, white and green pads, a light blue catching glove, and a blocker with a crosshair design. His head was protected by a mask displaying a Spider-Man design, and the wooden stick in his blocker hand had a very metallic look to it.

"Young man, who are you?" asked Coach Sorenson.

"I'll tell you...as soon as someone scores on me." replied the mystery goalie confidently.

"That voice..." thought Betty."It sounds so...familiar."

Although Coach Sorenson was about to protest, Dylan intervened, carrying a puck on his stick.

"Wait, Coach Sorenson," he told him, "Let me take a shot on him and see if he's the real deal."

"Hmmm...Well, I suppose we can give him a chance, can't we?" replied Coach Sorenson as the rest of the team nodded in agreement.

Dylan immediately carried the puck across the centre line and came rushing at the goalie with intensity. Usually, this approach was enough to make any defender retreat and practically clear the way for him. The only problem was that the mystery goalie did something unexpected; he skated out farther from his crease to meet Dylan. Hopelessly confused, Dylan ended up skating his way into a poke check from his opponent, who then lobbed the puck back to center ice and repositioned himself.

"I'll go next," said Paloma as she quickly took the puck and skated towards the net.

One of her best moves was to quickly do a left heel kick to force an opposing goalie to move left with her, only to leave the net open for a backhand shot. Once she sped to within a few meters of the net, she kicked her left foot back, expecting the stranger she was facing to move left and out of her way for an easy shot into the right side of the net.

Instead, the mystery goaltender simply skated backwards into his blue crease, keeping a meter's distance from her. Left with almost no shooting room, Paloma moved right and tried to shoot into the corner of the net. but was left to the mercy of the goalie's glove hand, which quickly snapped up and clamped down on the puck. Once more, he dropped the puck and shot it back to center ice before getting ready for another shot.

"Come on! Give me a real challenge!" he shouted, annoying the young Moose Javians at center ice. "Try sending three against me!"

"I'll go next!" answered Noah as he took the puck. "Chip, Dalton, let's try that passing exercise from last practice."

The Osbourne twins joined Noah and moved slowly up the ice with Chip trailing closely on Noah's right and Dalton on his far left. As Noah skated up the ice and across the blue line, he made a drop pass to Dalton. Chip crossed over behind Noah to his left while Noah glided slightly right, causing the goalie to skate back into his crease. Dalton quickly caught up to Noah's pass and one-timed a pass to his brother Chip, who then one-timed a pass of his own to Noah. With haste, Noah attempted to shoot it under the catching glove of the goalie.

Shockingly enough for Noah and the Osbournes, the goalie countered his well-placed shot, swinging his entire lower body out to the left and stacking his 30'' pads. The puck bounced off them with a loud "THUD!" as it rolled out of the attacking zone.

The stranger continued to show his dominance in net as more players were turned away by him. Some of his moves, including a low butterfly, stick save, and even the full splits, left the team in stunned silence. Finally, the goalie shot the puck over to the one player that had not taken a shot at net: Betty.

Although nobody was expecting Betty to score on the mystery goalie, the redhead had actually made a very good move by being the last shooter because she had watched his moves closely. In almost every shot, Betty saw that his blocker hand was not so quick compared to the rest of his limbs, and she had figured out a way to beat him and finally unmask him.

She skated forward at half-speed, moving the puck between her forehand and backhand, all the while keeping an eye on the goalie as he moved backwards into his crease again.

"Just a little farther back..." Betty thought as she approached the blue line.

Once she crossed the blue line, the right-handed captain carried the puck on her forehand and pressed her stick down on the ice. Then, she released a wrist shot unlike any other she had ever made. It sailed through the air with bullet-like velocity, skipped over the goalie's right elbow, and struck the net under the goalie's water bottle, causing it to flip in midair and land on the goalie's helmet with a smack.

Betty pumped her fists in exhilaration as her teammates cheered wildly. With a smile on her face, she skated up to the defeated netminder and met him face-to-face to make live up to his promise.

"Okay, now that I've beaten you, take your mask off and tell us who you are," demanded Betty.

With a heavy sigh, the goalie tucked his left catching glove inside his right arm and removed the glove, then reached around his head with his left hand and lifted the mask up. Right then and there, Betty's jaw dropped when she saw who it was.

"Surprise!" said Neil.

Betty was absolutely stunned that her beloved Atomic Neil had come all the way from Vancouver Flats to see her. Without a second thought, she embraced the goalie, bewildering him for just a moment before he too held her in his arms. Confused by the scene, Coach Sorenson and the rest of the team gathered around the pair.

"You two know each other?" asked the coach.

"Um, yeah, we--" started Betty, who found herself cornered in a lie.

"--met at the Calgary Stampede about five years ago!" finished Neil.

"Yep, and we've been friends ever since!" added Betty, relieved that Neil was able to make save outside a hockey game. The last thing she needed was a hint about their double life being given away.

"Now, about my registration..." said Neil to the coach.

"Oh, of course!" said Coach Sorenson in realization. "Follow me!"

Neil followed the coach as he skated his way off the ice, oblivious to the look of mixeddejection and concernon Noah's face

After hockey practice was over, Betty called her parents and told them she would be walking home, then met up with her boyfriend on her way out of the arena. Outside, the two off-duty Galactic Guardians had a lot to talk about during their walk.

"So how did you get so good at being goalie?" asked Betty.

"Well, if I told you, you wouldn't believe me," replied Neil.

"Oh, come on! Try me!"

"Okay, okay. I was trained by Roberto Luongo himself."

"What! Are you serious!"

"I'm serious, Betty! He even gave me that jersey off his back!"

"Wow! I guess you were a pretty good student!"

"Thanks! By the way, do you want to know why elseI'm here?"

"Sure. Why?"

"Things are getting a little ugly in Vancouver. There's too much crime to deal with, and it's not going to be such a peaceful place to live once the Olympics roll around, so my parents decided it was time to move to another town. Take a guess at which place I suggested to them."

Betty stopped walking as her eyes widened and a grin appeared on her face, causing Neil to halt as well.

"You mean you're coming to live in...Moose Jaw Heights!" she said before once more jumping into his waiting arms and hugging him. This time, however, her green eyes sparkled as she looked into Neil's shining blue ones. They leaned into one another before locking lips and sharing a kiss.

From a distance, Noah had been watching them the entire time, seeing if his suspicions were true. Now that the couple's kiss had given him an undesired yet definite answer, he sighed, turned left into a side pathway, and with a heavy heart, went back home.

_I do not own Atomic Betty, the Vancouver Canucks or the Ottawa Senators ("Ray" is a reference to someoneon that team, though I'm not saying any names.)_


End file.
